Chapter 5
Fifth Bone: "Arrival: Arrival at I.C. Prefecture" is the fifth chapter of [[Manga|the manga B. Ichi]]. It was collected as part of Volume 2. Featured Appearances Plot Fantastic Island, IC Prefecture The Happy Factory hardly resembles what its name suggests, a garbage dump full of smog, waste, and dilapidated buildings. A kappa with a scythe looks at this setting and asks, "Are they going to throw away this entire planet?" Tube Region, IC Prefecture Shotaro awakens in the back of Yohei Nanami's Jeep, shocked to learn from Mana that he has been asleep an entire day. While Yohei worries about confronting Nofix and Mana looks forward to getting commendations, Shotaro initiates Bone of the Bird and hurriedly leaps out of the Jeep, worried that he has slept an entire day, right after performing his good deed for Kisuke and now needs to complete his next good deed before this day ends. In the "Electric Town" of IC Prefecture, as Shotaro flies past the alleys, they are decorated to look like giant computer keyboards. Yohei is surprised by Shotaro's immediate departure when they only just arrived in town, while Mana worries what it must be like to be a Dokeshi. Meanwhile, Yohei's Jeep is being watched by two young men atop a rooftop. These agents of Fear Factory's Intelligence Division, accompanied by lackeys resembling Solence's gang, intend to follow Yohei. The leader of the duo, Boss Zuno, says that upon confronting Yohei, he will call out, "Yo! Hey!" His assistant, Assi, thinks that remark is a great reaction--which gets him punched in the face by Zuno, who actually thinks his own call was bad. Zuno then tries another statement: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." Ashi, thinking Zuno wants him to criticize that remark, shivers and claims the comment "left me cold." Zuno still punches Ashi in the face, as that comment was supposed to be funny. Zuno explains he is sensitive to criticism about his jokes and wants his partner to have the right reactions. This sensitivity extends even to his body, as he does not trim his nosehairs so that they can act as antenna to track their targets. Tenmusu Street Yohei parks his Jeep around the 758 Block and walks with Mana. She worries whether Shotaro will be alright. But Yohei is not worried: he refers to Shotaro as like a "homing pigeon" and will find them when he's ready, much as Shotaro was able to find Mana by using Bone of the Dog and the scent from Mana's bra. Upset, Mana claims she does not write her name on her underwear. Yohei takes this opportunity to separate from Mana: he promised only to give her and Shotaro a ride, not to accompany them further in their search for Eneme. Yohei instead focuses on how to infiltrate the Fear Factory--until he feels Mana tugging on his shirt sleeve. Mana holds up a flyer for the local Robot Fight Tournament, and she wants him to make her a robot so she can get a commendation. persuades Yohei]] Yohei knocks the flyer out of her hand and takes her by the collar of her shirt, warning her not to enter the Robot Fight Tournament. Yohei turns and leaves the "airhead." But Mana has a plan: she will tell the stubborn Yohei that he is simply afraid that he is not good enough to build a robot to win the tournament. Before she can even speak her completed thought, Yohei finishes her sentence, suggesting he will not be coerced by her reverse-psychology. Silenced for only a moment, Mana still finishes her sentence. Yohei pauses. Then he grabs Mana by her shirt and promises the "vixen" that he will build the robot. Yohei hands Mana a list of supplies he will need, then obsesses about which kind of robot to build, as a robot that simply punches or even performs a Justice Blade will not be impressive enough. Mana interrupts to warn Yohei not to make a strange robot, but he tells her to leave already and get his supplies. As Mana leaves, she realizes she never found out why Yohei has come to the IC Prefecture. As Yohei is obsessed with his new project, he has forgotten as well, so Mana ignores his concern. But the flyer that Yohei knocked from Mana's hand explains why he told her not to compete: the Robot Fighting Competition is sponsored by the Happy Factory, actually the Fear Factory Yohei was to infiltrate. The flyer blows away from Mana as she departs and sails to the rooftops, where Zuno and his partner watch. Zuno plans to kidnap Mana with his Trapping Hairs. Around IC Prefecture Mana visits multiple shops, where she buys items on sale, in part because salespersons find her so attractive. Leaving one shop, Mana walks through an alley, as she carries the supplies in a paper bag. Mana complains that her ignorance about robotics prolonged her shopping errands, but she is pleased to have received "a free CPU or PTA or something" from the shops, even if she does not know what they do. defeats Fear Factory lackeys]] Behind Mana, two Fear Factory lackeys, armed with knives, leap to attack her from the air. But Mana already senses them. Hugging the supplies to her chest, Mana spins to kick one lackey in his chest, knocking the knife out of his hand. Mana then kicks the other lackey in his head. Both lackeys crash into the walls of the alley. Mana apologizes, as she refuses to deal with thieves again. But from down the alley, a cord is whipped at and around Mana's leg, pulling her down onto the street. The cord is attached to a gauntlet around the wrist of Ashi. As he drags her towards him, he notices Mana's skirt lifting up. Out of a side-alley, the kappa reappears, studying the whip. With his sickle, he slices the cord, which knocks Ashi back into the Fear Factory lackeys. The kappa complains that such cords are easily to trip upon. But he is surprised to see the lackeys and Ashi escape through a hole in the street. Mana is surprised to see a kappa, who removes from his own hand a kiwi, whose sourness he desires to eat--which surprises her more, as she thought kappas preferred cucumbers. Only then realizing she is in prone on the street next to a kappa, Mana panics, but the kappa simply confirms that yes, he is a kappa. Mana is then interrupted by the appearance of Zuno. Rather than reveal his intentions, Zuno claims to a passing tailor who noticed Mana's attire was frayed from her earlier fall on the street. Mana tried to turn down his offer to sew up her damaged attire, but before she knew it, Zuno had completed his work. Although worried by his actions, Mana tried to ignore him and simply walk away. However, as Ashi explains as he stands back up, Zuno actually sewed one of his nose hairs as "Trapping Hair," using his ability to receive electromagnetic waves to listen to any sounds near Mana's attire while also tracking her location. When Mana returns to Yohei, he is still soldering his new robot and complains at her how long it has taken her to return. Mana quickly explains all that just happened, including referring to Zuno as "suspicious," sewing her up with some ulterior motive. Zuno and Ashi are stunned that their plan is discovered so quickly. Therefore, Zuno orders Ashi to report to Rodigy--and to lie that their mission was successful, with Mana suspecting nothing. Fear Factory After Rodigy hangs up on Zuno's phone report, he passes along the confirmation of a successful mission to Dr. Agei. Yet Agei is worried about Emine's envoy coming to their location. Rodigy reminds Agei that he has a meeting already schedule with this envoy. But Agei is worried that, should this envoy discover the Fear Robot, it will upset the balance of the entire organization. Rodigy decides to feign ignorance about the Robot, as he refuses to let Emine or Yohei to interfere with Nofix's work to complete the Fear Robot by tomorrow's deadline, the Robot Fight Tournament itself. Rodigy then excuses himself, as his Dokeshi condition requires he bathe himself in light daily. Agei is surprised what Dokeshi must do to hold onto their power or risk losing something precious. Rodigy explains that his fellow Dokeshi Zuno must erase one of his memories daily to retain his electromagnetic waves, which is why Ashi is with him to remind him of their mission to follow Yohei. Rodigy admits these daily conditions are "a foolish state of affairs." Around IC Prefecture One Dokeshi, Shotaro, stares at his ticking clock, as he has little time before he is too late to fulfill his good daily good deed. He shouts at persons to ask whether they want help, including a man, a horse, a dog, a cat, and a rooster--the latter three he excitedly calls the Bremen Town Musicians. But then Shotaro says he is "starting to hate himself" and screams that he has no time. Shotaro's outburst attracts the attention of Tool. Yohei's Workshop Underneath the polluting pipes of one factory, Yohei realizes Mana met his acquaintance, Tool, the kappa she encountered. Yohei explains Tool lives in a Prefecture garbage dump and would help him find parts for his machines. According to Tool, he is highly empathetic to his surroundings. Yohei also says that it was fortuitous to run into Tool, as he only comes to town every few months to buy kiwi. Yohei thinks Mana was also lucky that she did not insult Tool by calling him "baldy." Yohei stops working to observe that Shotaro has still not returned. Around IC Prefecture Unfortunately, Shotaro did refer to Tool as "baldy," prompting the furious kappa to chase the Dokeshi around town, threatening to kill him. Shotaro begs Tool for a time out so he may finish his good deed. Tool mishears Shotaro, thinking he said he was "gonna feed ... from the sacred bowl" atop the kappa's head. Bemused, Shotaro promises "baldy" he said no such thing--which prompts Tool to slice off a strip of hair from Shotaro's head and continue chasing him. Elsewhere, one of the Fear Factory lackeys welcomes Lin Kinpar, surprised she did not contact for a pickup. Lin replies that she prefers walking. The lackey reminds her that must hurry or be late for their meeting. Shotaro also looks at his watch, as he is late performing his good deed. At that moment, Shotaro dashes by Lin, as she wonders aloud whether she is "up to the task of acting as Emine-sama's proxy." This remark causes Shotaro to come to a stop to approach Lin--only to see Kappa, his scythe almost touching the Dokeshi's face. Trivia *Zuno's name is the Japanese pronunciation of "nose" ("nozu") spelled backwards.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 42, 189 *The sound of Zuno's nose hair antennae is "piro," which he also adds to the end of his sentences.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 42, 190 *The cry "Yo! Hey!" puns on Yohei's name.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 43, 190 *The word "Raiha" on Zuno's shirt is written with the characters for "electric" ("lightning") and "wave". *Assi and Zuno's frequent remark, "That joke wss so bad it left me cold!" is a pun: in Japanese, "sabui" can mean "cold" or a bad joke. *In the Yen Press English translation, Zuno says, "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." In the original Japanese, he says, "Neko ga nekorondeta futon ga futtonda!" ("The futon the cat was sleeping on flew off!") with the joke being the repetition of "neko" (cat) and "futon." *The number 758, pronounced "Nagoya," appears in I. C. Prefecture. In the real-world, the capitol of Aichi Prefecture is Nagoya.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 45, 190 *A sign in I. C. Prefecture says "Parcing," an intentional misspelling of "Parking," as the original Japanese uses a different character for the same pronunciation but a different meaning. *In Japanese folklore, kappa are thin water imps that appear like turtles, with webbed hands and feet, scaly skin, and beaks. A kappa has a hollowed-out basin atop its head, filled with water to provide it strength. They are known to be mischievous, their pranks ranging from harmless to vicious.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2, English eBook, Pages 56, 190 As well, in Japanese folklore, kappa are said to enjoy eating cucumbers. The words for kiwi (kiui) and cucumber (kyuuri) sound alike, hence Tool's preference for kiwis is a pun. *Assi says of Zuno, "With a boss like him, I can hold my nose(hairs) high." Assi is putting a spin on the Japanese expression "nose is high," which means "to be proud."B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 Pages 58, 190 *The remark about an "Eyeball Father" may allude to Medama Oyaji, Kitaro's dad in the classic manga and anime Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 63, 190 *Rodigy's remark that the conditions for Dokeshi is "a foolish state of affairs" may allude to the alternate definition of "dokeshi," clown, hence fools. finds the Musicians of Bremen]] *Shotaro refers to the horse, dog, cat, and rooster as the Bremen Town Musicians, alluding to the German folktale by the Brothers Grimm in which farm animals seek the titular town with the goal of becoming musicians. Upon approaching a house being robbed, the animals stand atop each other's back and start "making music" that is so noisy it drives away the robbers.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2, English eBook, Pages 64, 190 In this issue, the animals stand on each other's back, similar to a bronze statue erected in 1953 by Gerhard Marcks in Bremen."Town Musicians of Bremen." Wikipedia. Accessed 14 Oct 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Musicians_of_Bremen The statue was erected in 1953. It is also [[Musical Allusions in B. Ichi|one of many allusions to music]] that B. Ichi creator Atsushi Ohkubo includes in his works. *Tool's name alludes to the United States rock band of the same name.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2, English eBook, Pages 65, 191 *Shotaro's watch has a cover similar to the Dokeshi symbol that also serves as the logo for B. Ichi. Similar smiley face logos appear on his attire on covers, promotional art, and in other chapters. *Shotaro says he desires to perform a "good deed" ("ichizen"). Tool thinks Shotaro hears him say that he wants to eat rice from his bowl-head by the "bowlful" (which is also "ichizen" but with different characters.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2, English eBook, Pages 67, 191 *Lin Kinpar's name is a pun of the name of United States rock band Linkin Park.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2, English eBook, Pages 69, 191 Connections to Okubo's Later Works References Category:Chapters